The rabbit incident happened on April 20 1979 while Carter was taking a few days off in Plains, Georgia. He was fishing from a canoe in a pond when he spotted a rabbit swimming toward him. It was never precisely determined what the rabbit's problem was. Carter later speculated that it was fleeing a predator. Whatever the case, it was definitely a troubled rabbit. "It was hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared and making straight for the president," a press account said. Carter did what he could to protect himself. Initially it was reported that he had hit the rabbit with his paddle. Realizing this would not play well with the Rabbit Lovers Guild, Carter later clarified that he had merely splashed water at the rabbit, which then swam off toward shore. A White House photographer, ever alert to history's pivotal moments, snapped a picture of the encounter for posterity. Carter's own staff was skeptical when he told the rabbit story back at the White House. Some ventured the opinion that rabbits couldn't swim, didn't attack people, and sure weren't about to take on a sitting president, even if it was Jimmy Carter. Miffed, Jimmy ordered up a print of the aforementioned photo, but this failed to resolve the issue. The picture showed the president with his paddle raised, and there was something in the water, "but you couldn't tell what it was," an anonymous staffer was quoted as saying. Whatever happened to to photo, nobody knows. It seems to have been 'misplaced'...

There is, in fact, a photo. To see it, and get further details, visit: http://www.narsil.org/politics/carter/killer_rabbit.html

For what its worth, here is a link to a photo of the event, courtesy of the Jimmy Carter library. The animal is clearly a rabbit, probably a Swamp Rabbit, but it had turned away from the boat by the time the photo was taken. http://www.narsil.org/politics/carter/killer_rabbit.html#photo

In Carter's defense, the story is plausible; there are "dominant" wild rabbits which *can* actually be very aggressive, and yes, they do hiss, rather like cats. I can attest to this from personal experience.

Actually, it may not have been some sort of crazed rabbit at all but a swamp rabbit. They're quite comfortable in the water, unlike other rabbits, and normally live near rivers or wooded wetlands. They look pretty much the same as the common eastern cottontail but are somewhat larger and darker in color. They're quite adept swimmers. They can be found from Texas north to the lower midwest and east to Georgia, though they're shy and not often seen. August is the latter part of their breeding season so I suspect the rabbit in question was just feeling especially territorial.

It's just a harmless little bunny. See video.

the secret service wrestled the rabbit to the ground and it was questioned and then eaten